(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reformer for a fuel cell system and a fuel cell system including the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell is a power generation system for producing electrical energy using a hydrocarbon-based fuel.
Representative exemplary fuel cells include a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and a direct oxidation fuel cell (DOFC).
The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been recently developed. The PEMFC has power characteristics that are superior to those of conventional fuel cells, as well as a lower operating temperature and faster start and response characteristics. Because of this, the PEMFC can be applied to a wide range of applications such as for portable electrical power sources for automobiles, distributed power sources for houses and public buildings, and small electrical power sources for electronic devices.
Such a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system is composed of a stack for a fuel cell body (hereinafter, for convenience referred to as a “stack”), a reformer that reforms the fuel to generate the hydrogen gas and supplies the hydrogen gas to the stack, and an oxidant supplier for supplying an oxidant gas to the stack. The stack generates electrical energy through an electrochemical reaction of a reformed gas supplied from the reformer and an oxidant gas supplied from the oxidant supplier.
The reformer includes a heating source for generating heat through a catalytic oxidizing reaction of the fuel, and a reforming reaction part for generating a reformed gas from the fuel through a reforming catalyst reaction of the fuel by the heat. In a conventional reformer, an oxidizing catalyst is required to be preheated at high temperature since oxidization of the fuel gas by the oxidizing catalyst occurs at high temperature in a heating source of the reformer. Therefore, high heat efficiency is required in a fuel cell system.